An NVIDIA board partner confirmed that finding a GeForce RTX 50 series GPU at MSRP these days is quite difficult, since most of the cost goes into the GPU and VRAM sold by NVIDIA, and the remaining 20% into coolers and stuff.
Chinese Vendor Says it's Easier to Sell NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 Series OC Models at Higher Prices Due to Lower Margins at MSRP
The state of current-gen GPUs isn't what it used to be a few years back. With vendors and retailers selling the recently released NVIDIA's RTX 50 series and AMD's RX 9070 series at significantly higher prices than their announced MSRPs, consumers aren't gaining much from what initially looked quite good in terms of value.
It's not that AIBs don't control the pricing, but they are finding it easier to sell the 'OC' models at higher prices than base models at MSRP. This is what an NVIDIA board partner in China has told the 51972, a reviewer who tested 31 models of the RTX 5080. In the conversation, the vendor told him that most factories don't get a decent margin off the GPUs if they sell them at MSRP. This is due to a significantly higher cost that goes into the VRAM and GPU alone.
Per his statement, the GPU and VRAM take almost 80% of the BOM cost for NVIDIA's RTX 50 series, leaving little to profit from other parts such as coolers and packaging. It hardly takes a few dozen dollars to manufacture radiators, fans, and the packing, and can go up to $100 in most cases. This is why the RTX 5080 can cost up to $900 in production and selling it at $1000 may not seem very appealing to vendors.
To be honest, it is very difficult for factories to implement MSRP nowadays. The BOM cost of a chip and video memory accounts for 80% of the cost. The cost of a set of radiators + packaging materials is dozens of dollars and almost a hundred dollars. Therefore, the current market policy is to increase the MSRP a little to respond, and the rest will be sold with OC. It is expected that the supply will be stable in March, and we don’t even have many test sample cards sent by the media now.
- Vendor to 51972 (machine translated)
Plus, when the vendors ship the cards to the distributors, they stock these cards to earn more profit, which results in much higher prices than MSRP for the consumers. The vendor also confirmed that it's easier for them to sell the GPUs for a higher price since factory-overclocking the GPU to a higher clock speed isn't difficult, and it helps them apply a premium price tag to generate more profits.
This is why we see premium editions listed for several hundred dollars higher than the base MSRP, but this has been going out of hand recently. Not only are the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5070 Ti selling for insanely higher prices, but the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 have gone up in prices drastically as well. In the very first week, the base models of the RX 9070 series have increased by up to $130, which tells us that AIBs and distributors can charge whatever they want to.
Nonetheless, all the market needs now is better availability, which helps in stabilizing the prices and the vendor did confirm that the availability will be better in March.
News Source: @unikoshardware
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
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